tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post2629658925391662423..comments2020-06-06T19:19:26.044-04:00Comments on Fiction University: 7 Tips to Make the Most of Working with a Cover Designer Janice Hardyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02356672149097741248noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-89684829501751847492015-11-26T18:06:52.613-05:002015-11-26T18:06:52.613-05:00Marcy, thank you sharing your expertise. And this ...Marcy, thank you sharing your expertise. And this additional tip &quot;we don’t need to provide a bar code for our print book. That’s generated by the printer (either CreateSpace or Lightning Source for us indies).&quot;, is something I didn&#39;t know. And thank you, Janis, for having Marcy share again. :-) Tracy Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11829493307148654507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-44243777495818019282015-11-19T12:23:25.731-05:002015-11-19T12:23:25.731-05:00Great advice, and for me quite timely. I&#39;m goi...Great advice, and for me quite timely. I&#39;m going to get started putting an outline together now. Thanks.Karen Ginther Grahamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00506935161345261158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-57621671838975538132015-11-19T12:23:18.759-05:002015-11-19T12:23:18.759-05:00While it&#39;ll be a LONG time before I can exact ...While it&#39;ll be a LONG time before I can exact these tips, I happily know I can do all of these, and I&#39;ve thought about that since selling my novel &quot;<a href="http://www.gabrielandrum.com/" rel="nofollow">Gabriel</a>&quot; in 2012. <br /><br />I&#39;m in the hybrid author situation, I&#39;m responsible for getting the illustrations I feel would add to the book, plus would help my marketing efforts nearing launch <b>(and frankly I want to see my characters outside my head)</b>, but in return I get the editing and print run I can&#39;t give myself, or hire out on my own, again due to my limited finances.<br /><br />I&#39;m turning to crowfunding <b>(which I know some indies don&#39;t like/want to do, but this is what I need to do)</b> if it doesn&#39;t succeed, I&#39;ve got a Plan B.<br><br />On that note, here are my additional tips-<br><br /><br />1. Credit your illustrator on the cover, and make sure&#39;s it&#39;s NOT overshadowed by your name.<br><br />This is a no-brainer for picture books <b>(when author and illustrator are not the same person)</b>, but some novels <b>(like mine, I hope...)</b> do have illustrations, and often illustrators aren&#39;t credited for the illustrations in a middle grade novel. I don&#39;t mean those little doodles <b>(which are cute)</b>, but full scale, sometimes in color <b>(but usually black and white)</b> illustrations.<br><br /><br><br />One of my favorite novels &quot;The Wainscott Weasel&quot; by Tor Seidler <b>(now in paperback, reissued in hardcover last year after being OOP* <i>[*Out-of-Print</i>] for decades!)</b> is an excellent example, with GORGEOUS illustrations by the late and great Fred Marcelino. <a href="https://youtu.be/FTv-erpkNVE" rel="nofollow">I made a fan trailer for it celebrating the book&#39;s 20th anniversary of it&#39;s original publication</a>.<br><br /><br><br />2.When Marcy mentioned &quot;Print Cover Consideration&quot; I&#39;d add to be sure you notate how the spine of the book will look like, which is often the first thing some readers may see if it&#39;s now displayed front and center, and again, make sure your illustrator <b>(if your book has illustrations)</b> gets billing on the spine, and you may have to ask you illustrator if you can shorten his/her name if it&#39;s really long.<br><br /><b>(Example: Alonzo de la cruz Alvarado-Campello or Hironobu Sakaguchi <i>[坂口*博信</i>)</b>Taurean Watkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16604609379930060667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-22735552099649028832015-11-19T12:23:04.209-05:002015-11-19T12:23:04.209-05:00Great advice, and for me quite timely. I&#39;m goi...Great advice, and for me quite timely. I&#39;m going to get started putting an outline together now. Thanks.Karen Ginther Grahamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00506935161345261158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-10396808966839293922015-11-19T11:42:09.730-05:002015-11-19T11:42:09.730-05:00Excellent suggestions, Marcy. I hadn&#39;t thought...Excellent suggestions, Marcy. I hadn&#39;t thought about the Clarifying the Tone. So helpful! Thanks!Darcy Flynnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05420095321400063307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3901370917824739259.post-80569676189406437242015-11-19T09:20:19.961-05:002015-11-19T09:20:19.961-05:00Excellent advice! Speaking as a cover designer, I...Excellent advice! Speaking as a cover designer, I couldn&#39;t agree more with this particular tidbit--&quot;Every minor plot twist won’t matter to the cover, and it’s actually usually a bad idea to try to take a scene from our book out of context and put it on our cover.&quot; <br /><br />Recreating a scene from the book rarely works out well, unless the hero and heroine are getting *ahem* happy on a beach together. ;)PJ Frielhttp://www.pjfriel.comnoreply@blogger.com